CHILLER SPOTLIGHT


Northern Ireland store of the year relies on Aermec chiller with heat recovery to


cut energy consumption by 55% Concerned about carbon emissions and energy usage, the popular convenience retailer SuperValu FruitField in Richhill, County Armagh is taking steps to optimise its cooling assets and mitigate the environmental impact with an investment of energy effi cient cooling and heat recovery solutions from Aermec.


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uperValu is a well-known and rapidly expanding food retailer in County Armagh. It was this year’s winner of the Northern Ireland’s


Store of the Year, held at Northern Ireland’s leading awards event for the industry, locally and nationally and follows on from last year’s win of Independent Retailer of the Year at the Retail Industry Awards 2023*.


As well as fresh meats, fruit and vegetables, home cooked ready meals prepared in house off ering the company is also well known for its in-store delicatessen and cafés off ering traditional dishes. Initially SuperValu was relying on a traditional


refrigeration using standard packs for cooling with condenser units and a split system to provide the heating and cooling. Escalating energy costs and costly maintenance led the business to reassess its refrigeration systems and look at implementing more energy effi ciency measures. Opportunities were identifi ed by the company which would strengthen the business, including the replacement of its aged refrigeration systems with a more sustainable solution. Energy effi ciencies could be boosted by reducing costs and implementing a forward-looking strategy that would enable the business to address its environmental concerns and work towards the government’s target of net zero emissions. Consideration was given to the use of other


refrigerants like CO2 and propane, these both options proved to be an expensive option to install and also proved to be and not to be as effi cient to operate due to high electrical consumption and maintenance costs.


Exploring other options, the store chose to move


forward with the glycol solution as all of the main distribution centres have used this type of cooling for many years, because of the better effi ciency using glycol. Working in collaboration with Aermec the Irish distributor for Aermec, Shilliday Refrigeration Air Conditioning Energy Solutions, the company


32 December 2024 • www.acr-news.com


adopted a mutli-faceted approach. Choosing a low temperature chiller with total


heat recovery enabling the system to produce heat as a free energy, for space heating the shop and providing hot water for kitchen use. Firstly, SuperValu replaced its existing


refrigeration cabinets with more energy effi cient models that included glass doors, which are proving to be 50% more effi cient than traditional open air curtain cabinets. The refrigerant charge for the shop has also


been reduced and replaced with Glycol cooling in line with F-Gas regulations, vastly reducing the amount of refrigerant that pack systems require to operate, glycol is also 25% - 30% more effi cient for refrigerating than a direct expansion system e.g., HFC, CFC or CO2. Refrigeration systems running glycol are not only


more environmentally friendly systems, but they also off er enhanced performance and reduce energy consumption signifi cantly. The heat that is normally expelled is being


recovered to heat the shop – essentially free heating


thus further reducing the carbon footprint and energy costs of the business. Aermec’s popular FCL ceiling cassettes compatible with four-pipe systems have also been installed. The FCL has antistatic plastic centrifugal fans with an impeller with wing-shaped fi ns which reduces noise and off ers reduced electricity consumption compared to traditional metal fans. The units also have an electrostatically pre-charged air fi lter that can be easily removed and cleaned. The ceiling cassettes at SuperValu are networked and controlled by Aermec’s centralised VMF hydronic management system.


By investing in a four-pipe simultaneous heating and cooling system the retailer has been able to heat and cool the shop and use the recovered heat to provide 1,500 litres of domestic hot water for the kitchen and shop.


Replacing the split system air conditioning


has proven to be a substantial energy saver for SuperValu. The overall changes to its cooling and refrigeration have seen the store’s power consumption reduced on average by 55%.


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